Warehouse 13 Reviews: Season 4, Episode 14

Episode 14: The Sky’s the Limit

This one starts with Artie at the boardinghouse trying to revive some dying flowers, but not having much luck. He gives Steve and Claudia an assignment in London; jockeys have been dying right after races, all the adrenaline gone from their bodies. None of the horses were bet on heavily, so the usual motive doesn’t seem likely. Artie can’t go on the mission since he has to meet Mrs. Frederick on some Regent-related matter. Steve figures it has to do with him reporting Artie’s reckless behaviour last episode, but he hasn’t told anyone about that. Claudia knows something’s up because Steve is a terrible liar. Outside, we see Charlotte Dupres observing the Warehouse and talking to someone on her cell. Pete and Myka are shelving artifacts, though Pete’s playing with them as usual, using King Kamehameha’s lei to create a tropical paradise. Artie tells Pete he and Myka are going to Vegas, but before Pete can get too excited Artie says they have to investigate a guy who fell out of the sky onto a golf course.

In Vegas, they find out the guy died before he hit the ground; he died of hypoxia and multiple edemas, so he must’ve been pretty high up in the air. There were no planes flying over and witnesses say the guy was glowing orange when he fell, so it has to be an artifact of some kind. Pete and Myka head to the guy’s hotel (the Maximus Hotel and Casino) to check his room. In England, Claudia and Steve talk to one of the owners and find out the jockey was in perfect health and completely drug free. Steve’s bullshit detection ability tells him the owner had nothing to do with it, so they have to look elsewhere. We also find out Steve is scared of horses. Claudia’s curious about what’s up with Artie and Mrs. Frederick, but Steve doesn’t want to discuss it. She really knows he’s hiding something now, but lets it go … for the moment.

In Vegas, we get the ubiquitous montage with “Viva Las Vegas” playing over it; whoever owns the rights to that song sure isn’t shy about licensing it out. In the dead guy’s room, Pete and Myka find a low-grade Hangover sequel, with three dudes passed out. (Pete: “I really hope that’s a Snickers.”; I hope so too, since Pete was eating it later. There’s also a Jack Daniels bottle on the table, but the label says “Jim Dandie’s”.) They wake the guys up and tell them about their friend, but they’re so hungover they can’t remember anything. Their pockets yield up some evidence … a restaurant, a bar, and a strip club. After checking each place, they find out the guys were acting like drunken idiots (and lousy tippers) and the dead guy was talking to a stripper about “floating”, which does fit with him plunging out of the sky later. Outside a mall downtown, $100 chips start falling from the sky and people gather them up. Unfortunately, they’re soon followed by a woman who plummets down and smacks into the sidewalk.

The dead woman has the same condition as the guy who fell onto the golf course (including people noticing an orange glow as she fell), but no other connection … except the chips that fell with her are from the Maximus. At the Warehouse, Mrs. Frederick introduces Artie to the new boardinghouse owner, Abigail Chow (played by Kelly Hu) and asks him to show her around the Warehouse. In Vegas, Pete and Myka find out the dead woman was a high roller (and big loser) who was comped tickets to Val Preston, the hottest magic act in Vegas, who’s appearing at the Maximus. Preston just happens to do a levitation trick and when Pete and Myka see him levitating his lovely assistant, they figure they’re on the right track.

In England, Steve finally tells Claudia the truth about reporting to the Regents on Artie’s behaviour. Claudia’s not happy, but Steve says he has to do what’s best for the team and Artie acting stupid isn’t good for anyone. They talk to another horse owner, who acts a bit shifty, but says he’s been compiling his own records on the mysterious deaths. A jockey dies on the track as they’re speaking to him and he says he neither owns nor bet on that horse, so Claudia apologizes and wheedles him into letting her see his records by flirting with him. (She also makes him think he’s going to get lucky, but gives him a fake hotel room number.)

At the Warehouse, Abigail is quite impressed with all the artifacts on display, but soon learns they’re not to be trifled with … or touched, as Artie slaps her hand when she tries to touch the original Ginsu knife. She draws Artie out and he realizes she’s a psychotherapist sent by the Regents to get him to open up. He freaks and leaves Abigail among the stacks. In Vegas, Pete and Myka examine Preston’s stuff and see that he uses a harness in his levitation trick. Preston freaks and tells them to get out, but as he’s holding the exit door open, Preston flies up into the air screaming. Preston’s manager says Preston is a great showman but he’s notorious for stealing tricks from other magicians. He stole the levitation trick from an old magician named Monty the Magnificent, who’s way over the hill but packs the audiences in because he’s got an original trick … the levitation. Pete and Myka check Preston’s phone and see that he was a volunteer for Monty’s levitation trick; they figure the other victims must’ve been volunteers too and later ended up shooting off into the stratosphere.

At the Warehouse, Abigail tells Mrs. Frederick that Artie is just the kind of stubborn, close-minded person who drove her away from psychiatry. Mrs. Frederick wants her to keep trying, but Abigail says they should just use an artifact to ease Artie’s pain. Mrs. Frederick doesn’t like that idea, but Abigail says if she’s going to play in their sandbox, she needs access to their toys. In Vegas, Pete and Myka meet Monty (played by stage veteran Joel Grey), who has heart problems but isn’t ready to quit performing. They try to learn what he’s using to levitate people, bu Monty says it isn’t a trick, it’s real magic. He can levitate people with the power of his mind and the energy generated by the audience. Pete mentions “unfortunate side effects”, but for some reason doesn’t tell Monty his magic is killing people. Monty offers them free tickets to his show so they can see for themselves how he levitates without trickery.

In England, Steve and Claudia find out that all the horses involved in the jockey deaths had injuries the day before their races. They figure something the vets did might’ve involved an artifact transferring adrenaline from jockey to horse, killing the jockeys and helping the horses win. In Vegas, Pete and Myka go to Monty’s show, where he tells the audience there’s been some questions over the safety of his levitation. Monty says he’ll prove it’s safe by levitating himself, which freaks out his lovely assistant (Rose). When Monty tells the audience to use their energy to levitate him, Pete tries to stop the act and gets levitated instead. Monty freaks out, thinking he can’t control his power, and leaves. Pete milks the attention a bit until Myka pulls him down and reminds him he’ll probably end up asphyxiating in the clouds. Rose comes out to check on Pete and tells them Monty went home because he was worried about not being able to control his power.

Pete and Myka check Monty’s place, but he’s not there. They do find out Rose is his granddaughter and they find a book about a 17th Century saint (St. Joseph of Cupertino) who could supposedly levitate. They figure Rose must’ve found an artifact and is using it to make Monty’s dream of “real magic” come true. Since Rose sent them on a wild goose chase, they figure she might want one last hurrah for Monty, so no one ever forgets him. Pete remembers Preston was supposed to do a big outdoor concert and Myka thinks maybe Rose and Monty will end up doing it instead. At the Maximus, Monty tells Rose he’s ready to walk away but she urges him to go out with a bang by taking over Preston’s big outdoor gig. I was thinking Rose knew about the deaths of the people Monty levitated, but apparently she doesn’t because she volunteers to be his levitation subject for the outdoor concert.

In England, the trainer tells Claudia and Steve that the injuries to the horses could all have been caused by jockey abuse. Claudia figures someone is using an artifact to give the abusive jockeys a taste of their own medicine. Turns out the abuses were all reported by a stable boy named Ricky, who also reported another abused horse that’s due to run in the next race. Claudia says she’ll try to stop the race and tells Steve to find the stable boy. In Vegas, Artie confirms Pete and Myka’s theory about St. Joseph of Cupertino, saying there must be some artifact associated with the saint that’s causing the levitation. But Cupertino himself couldn’t control his levitation, so that explains why the victims end up shooting off into the sky. Myka wonders what triggers the second levitation and says they’d better find out fast or Pete will be “hopping the stairway to heaven”. (Pete: “No, it’s buying the stairway to heaven.”; Myka: “Well, I’m not a Rolling Stones expert.”)

At the Warehouse, Abigail tries to get Artie to use an artifact to assuage his guilt over Leena, but he refuses. They argue and Abigail admits she lost a patient because he wouldn’t confront his grief and it overwhelmed him. She says Artie has to acknowledge and fight his grief head on or it’ll eventually consume him. At the big outdoor concert in Vegas, Monty shows up to take Preston’s spot. Pete and Myka arrive, but Myka makes Pete stay in the car since they don’t know what’ll trigger him levitating off into the upper atmosphere. Monty levitates Rose, which probably gives a lot of people in the audience a thrill since she’s wearing a really short dress. Myka notices Rose grasping a medallion around her neck and figures that’s the artifact Rose is using to levitate people, while letting Monty believe he’s doing it. As Rose levitates, Pete does too, right through the sun roof. I guess we know what triggers the subsequent levitations. Pete holds onto the sun roof for a bit, then lets go and grabs Rose as he shoots up into the air.

Pete tells Rose what’s been happening and says they’ll keep her secret from Monty, but she has to bring them down to earth. Rose brings them down and Myka bags the medallion, ending its power. Monty realizes he never really had any “power” after all and feels like an idiot. Myka and Pete feel bad for disillusioning him. In England, Steve confronts Ricky, who admits he’s been using an old piece of Sitting Bull’s blanket to punish the jockeys. Claudia tries to get the jockey to stop but he won’t listen, so she jumps on the horse behind him. The artifact starts draining both of them, but Claudia finds it under the saddle and bags it. Charlotte Dupres has been watching Claudia’s antics and asks if she’s okay. After Claudia leaves, Charlotte sends a photo of her to someone with the message, “This is your target”.

At the Warehouse, Pete and Myka show Monty some real magic, including artifacts belonging to Robert Houdin and Harry Blackstone Sr. They tell Monty the world is full of magic but most people aren’t ready for it yet. Monty says he can keep a secret, but as he’s leaving he grabs Blackstone Sr.’s light bulb. Steve and Claudia shelve the blanket and Claudia gets shot in the ass with a lightning bolt, which Steve says is karma for giving him so much shit over Artie. At the boardinghouse, Abigail is wondering if she really belongs there when Artie comes in all distraught. He says he killed someone he loved and doesn’t know what to do about it. Abigail says they should talk.